Abstract
This study presents Finnish and Japanese explanatory variables of science achievement in TIMSS 1999. The methodological approach reflects assumptions that educational outcomes, both cognitive and affective, are socially, culturally, historically, and institutionally situated and context-specific. The purpose of this study is to describe and highlight the wide spectrum of nuances of students' home background, free- and schooltime activities, their motivational factors and affective outcomes of schooling, all of which are connected with students' science achievement. This study was set out to identify, by means of hierarchical linear models (HLM), country-specific groups of variables associated with students' science achievement. The analysis revealed that there were only few statistically significant explanatory variables of science achievement in common to both these countries.
